Analyzing the Preface

1. Analyzing the Preface “ Montage of a dream deferred”

2. What is the purpose of a preface? • Preface comes from the Latin, meaning either "spoken before" (prae + fatia) or "made before" (prae + factum). • A preliminary statement introducing a book that explains its scope, intention, or background

3. Harlem 1 What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore – 5 And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over -like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags 10 like a heavy load. Or does it explode? - Langston Hughes, 1951

4. What do the following words mean? 1 What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore – 5 And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over -like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags 10 like a heavy load. Or does it explode? - Langston Hughes, 1951 Defer = ? To postpone, delay or put off Fester = ? Decline, to rot Montage = ? a method of film editing involving the juxtaposition or partial superimposition of several shots to form a single image

5. What types of figurative language is used in the poem? Figurative language refers to words, and groups of words, that exaggerate or alter the usual meanings of the component words ( The opposite being Literal) What is Alliteration – ? A poetic device where the first consonant sounds or any vowel sounds in words or syllables are repeated Simile – ? A comparison, usually using "like" or "as", of two essentially dissimilar things, as in "coffee as cold as ice" or "He sounded like a broken record." Anaphora - ? a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring clauses, thereby lending them emphasis

6. Find the figurative language in the poem? • 1. Alliteration – ? • Lines 1 and 2 • What happens to a dream differed • Does it dry up • 2. Simile - ? • Lines 2 – 4 • Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun? • 3. Anaphora - ? • Does it dry up  like a raisin in the sun? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Does it stink like rotten meat 1 What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore – 5 And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over -like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags 10 like a heavy load. Or does it explode? - Langston Hughes, 1951

7. What central question does the poem ask?" Although the poem is phrased as a list of questions, Hughes is making a statement. • What is Hughes' message about dreams deferred? • How do "dreams deferred" relate to the American Dream?

8. Why do you think Ms. Hansberry chose this poem as her preface?